Yang Zhiyuan, Shi Mai, Zhang Xiaoli, Yao Danyu
School of Artificial Intelligence, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Insects. 2022 Oct 22;13(11):968. doi: 10.3390/insects13110968.
Tsetse flies are a type of blood-sucking insect living in diverse locations in sub-Saharan Africa. These insects can transmit the unicellular parasite () which causes African trypanosomiasis in mammals. There remain huge unmet needs for prevention, early detection, and effective treatments for this disease. Currently, few studies have investigated the molecular mechanisms of parasite-host interactions underlying African trypanosomiasis, mainly due to a lack of understanding of the genome. In this study, we dissected the genomic and transcriptomic profiles of by annotating the genome and analyzing the gene expression. We found about 5% of proteins in the human proteome, while more than 80% of protein in other trypanosomes. Sequence alignment analysis showed that 142 protein homologs were shared among and mammalian genomes. We identified several novel proteins with pathogenic potential supported by their molecular functions in , including 24 RNA-binding proteins and six variant surface glycoproteins. In addition, 26 novel microRNAs were characterized, among which five miRNAs were not found in the mammalian genomes. Topology analysis of the miRNA-gene network revealed three genes (RPS27A, UBA52 and GAPDH) involved in the regulation of critical pathways related to the development of African trypanosomiasis. In conclusion, our work opens a new door to understanding the parasite-host interaction mechanisms by resolving the genome and transcriptome of .
采采蝇是一种生活在撒哈拉以南非洲不同地区的吸血昆虫。这些昆虫可传播单细胞寄生虫（），该寄生虫在哺乳动物中引起非洲锥虫病。对于这种疾病的预防、早期检测和有效治疗仍存在巨大未满足的需求。目前，很少有研究调查非洲锥虫病背后寄生虫 - 宿主相互作用的分子机制，主要是由于对该寄生虫基因组缺乏了解。在本研究中，我们通过注释基因组和分析基因表达来剖析该寄生虫的基因组和转录组图谱。我们发现该寄生虫约5%的蛋白质存在于人类蛋白质组中，而在其他锥虫中超过80%的蛋白质存在。序列比对分析表明，该寄生虫和哺乳动物基因组共有142个蛋白质同源物。我们鉴定了几种具有致病潜力的新蛋白质，其分子功能在该寄生虫中得到支持，包括24个RNA结合蛋白和6个可变表面糖蛋白。此外，还鉴定了26个新的微小RNA，其中5个微小RNA在哺乳动物基因组中未发现。微小RNA - 基因网络的拓扑分析揭示了三个参与非洲锥虫病发展相关关键途径调控的基因（RPS27A、UBA52和GAPDH）。总之，我们的工作通过解析该寄生虫的基因组和转录组，为理解寄生虫 - 宿主相互作用机制打开了一扇新的大门。
